Latest / The Art of Costume Podcast / Tron: Ares with Christine Bieselin Clark - The Costume House with Spencer Williams

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Tron: Ares with Christine Bieselin Clark - The Costume House with Spencer Williams · The Art of Costume Podcast

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When you do your first fittings, of course we're not printing
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hard parts. The light lines are literally
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red tape, you know? But still, hold on.
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To that imagination, Jared. We've just locked that in for
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you. I cut it out of some tape, but
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it's going to be great. Welcome to The Costume House
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with Spencer Williams, a podcast dedicated to the art and
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storytelling of costume design in film and television.
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I am your host, Spencer Williams, and thank you so much
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for joining me. Let me preface this episode by
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saying I am a huge Tron nerd. I love science fiction and these
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films, I mean, just eject them directly into my bloodstream.
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I could watch them over and over and over.
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For today's episode, I am thrilled to be joined by a
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designer whose work has shaped some of the most iconic visuals
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in modern science fiction, Christine Beaseland Clark.
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Christine's latest project, Tron Aries, makes a breathtaking
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return to the grid. We talked about reinventing the
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light suits for a new era, the practicality and advancement in
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technology since Christine's work on Tron Legacy, building 3
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distinct grids through color and philosophy designed for Jared
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Leto and Jodi Turner Smith, an incredible team who brought
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these illuminated worlds to life.
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And with that, let's step inside the costume house.
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I am so happy to welcome to the show someone whom I've been
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wanting to talk to for a very long time now because I am just
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such a big sci-fi nerd and we're talking to a queen of sci-fi
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costume design. Please welcome to the show
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costume designer Christine Wieseland Clark.
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Hey, Christine. Hi, well that was such an intro.
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I hope I live up to all of these glowing.
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Of course. I mean, I've been watching your
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work. It seems like forever now.
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I mean, going back to Tron Legacy and of course of your
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work in this Star Trek universe as well.
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So I mean, I'm a I'm a sci-fi nerd.
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So this this has been a long time coming this.
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Is going to be great then. Good.
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Well, I'm so excited to talk to you all about Tron Aries.
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I really, really, truly love this film.
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It just felt so good to be back on a grid and just seeing how
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technology and visuals have evolved over the years.
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And the black and red colors. I mean, I just have so much I
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want to talk to you about. But first, I mean, Tron Legacy
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had such a enduring impact on sci-fi costume design.
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And you of course, were a Co costume designer alongside our
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friend Michael Wilkinson, who you know, we've talked to a lot
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recently on Andor and he's had so many glowing things to say
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about you as well. So what was it like stepping
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back into the Grid? 15 I believe 15 years later?
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I know and I'm not old enough to have it been that long.
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So no, I was, I mean, talk about wild, right?
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The the things that we designed and the technologies that were
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used on legacy, you know, you think about technology and how
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impactful and immediate and the growth is so huge to come back
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into the grid 15 years later. It was like an entirely new set
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of tools in the toolbox for us, which was such a beautiful thing
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because there when we were on Legacy, I mean, Michael and I,
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we worked with Quantum Creation Effects and Iron Head Studios
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and trying to develop integral lighting to that degree in
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costumes for that time was the behemoth.
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You know, it was the challenge for all of us.
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I mean, honestly, it was just to make it practical and functional
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and stunts and all that. The the hardest part was the
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lighting elements and there were so many compromises made
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creatively by us as designers, the production design,
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everything to be able to get it in camera.
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And what's wild is going back 15 years later, suddenly those
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parameters were a little bit different because of the
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evolution of technology, which what a true blessing that was to
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be able to kind of like, oh, I can shake off these demons of
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the past and we can do so much more.
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And so that was just such a wonderful gift to come back with
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the advancements 15 years later. Yeah, I mean, just so excited.
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I can't even imagine that first step, being able to look your
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toolbox and see how it's evolved over the years.
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I mean, just as a whole, how has costume design evolved over
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these last 15 years? Well, I mean, listen, when we
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were back doing these first suits, these were sculpted
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molded foam latex suits. And a lot of the reason behind
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that was of course to get the design elements that we wanted,
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You know, the sleekness of line and the bumping out of the
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physique and all that. Foam latex really was our best
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friend and lightweightness, durability, and then it played a
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huge part in the safety element of the suit because the
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technologies of legacy we're a little precarious in terms of,
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you know, maybe the health and safety factor of things.
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And we really had to develop systems like barrier suits and
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all that stuff for the wiring to ensure the safety of the actors.
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So too, I mean, also we were using a flexible urethane light
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that had never been used like this before.
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It was literally like something off of a safety vest in Japan
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that we were like, oh, let's take that and turn it into these
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suits. But no one had done it before.
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So wild. Coming back to Aries with all
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the different ways of using lighting technologies and Cobb
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LEDs were so they're incredibly safe.
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Like there's, there was the amount of safety meetings we had
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on Legacy was like staggering. And the ones we had on Aries, we
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were like, oh good, we're good. These might blow up.
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Just so you know, it's a. Different thing.
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And then our powering systems and legacy, you're trying to
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integrate batteries into the suit without completely
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distorting the lines of the design and getting some
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longevity. I mean, some of these suits we
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can only light for like 10 or 15 minutes, whereas you come into
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Aries and you're like, the battery pack is like this big
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and we can light that suit for hours off of that battery.
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It was just a completely different world and it opened up
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so many parameters in design. It was a lovely experience in
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that regard. How excited.
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So you must have been thrilled to get into Tron Aries, which
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I'm so excited to talk about. First, let's start with the
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bigger picture. Tell me about your collaboration
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with your director Yokim Roning, and maybe about setting the
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picture. What does Tron Aries look like
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now, all these years later? Has a little bit of a darker,
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more dystopian feel when you look at compared to Tron Legacy,
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where is a little bit more mysterious and blue.
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Now we're dark and red. It feels a little bit more or
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antagonistic when you look at it at first.
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Absolutely. I mean, I think always Yocums
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point of view. Sean Bailey, our wonderful
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producer, the studio at large, our production designer,
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everybody. I think all of us wanted to give
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tribute to Legacy in in the same ways that when we did Legacy, we
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gave to 1982. Tron is you're trying to find
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that connected tissue of the line language and the
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applicability of of how you use shapes, colors, etcetera to
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carry on the story through the franchise.
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However, this being a more militarized, you know, this is a
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weaponized program. So your choices are we were so
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much more angular and intense and armored and all of that
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stuff, which of course comes across especially with the color
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choices, but also just going and looking at the story you're
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telling, right? So in Legacy, it's ultimately a
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love story across the board and the softness and the beauty of
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all those choices that we made versus Aries, which is, I mean,
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ultimately a story of of human empathy and understanding and
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growth in that way. But everyone wanted us to take
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what we knew in the language of the past and make sure it looked
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classic Tron with the, you know, the amount of light, the
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intensity of things, the light cycles.
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But we really had to, you know, dial into a different direction
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than legacy. So I think Yoakam, it was
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really, really important for him.
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The light, the light, the light was always our conversations
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about placement and strength of line and making sure those chess
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lights had that story that referred back to legacy, but in
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its own unique way. So it's, it's reverence for the
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history and then tonally shifting completely and then
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pushing the envelope, you know, 15 years later, the appetite of
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an audience and the, you know, the evolution of technology,
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even our own lives. I think the expectation is much
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greater. It was a high bar, but I think I
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think we did it. Yeah, you have a lot of boxes.
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We got check in this one. The laundry list, yeah.
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Well, let's get into it. Let's step into the grid
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finally. First, before I get started, I
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want to shout out Costume Co costume designer Alex Friedberg,
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who designed the real world costumes for Tron Aries.
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Alex couldn't make it today. But of course, Alex, if you're
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listening, you're always welcome.
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So yes, we love you. Please come by and chat.
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But you were tasked with that design of costumes we see in the
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grid which actually make their way into the real world as well,
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which we'll talk about that unique challenge.
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But Tron Aries introduces 3 distinct grids and you were
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really responsible for the look of two of them, each with its
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own identity reflected not only in colour.
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For example, we have a lot of black for Aries and Athena, lots
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of red for the guards of Dillinger, lots of Blues and
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Grays of NCOM, but also in a philosophy is behind them.
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So in particular, can you talk about how you differentiated
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these two worlds through color, texture, and silhouette, and
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what deeper ideas or philosophy shaped the look of each grid?
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Yeah. I mean, it's funny, you go back
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to legacy again. So when we were developing the N
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Com grid, that to us was the most connected to the line
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language and the colorways of Tron Legacy.
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So you can clearly see in those N Com soldiers how much of the
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line work is stemming from and connected to our line work of
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legacy. So it was really important to us
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that N com that we see now brought our audiences closer to
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the world that we we left in legacy.
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And I think we did that in a in the cool color palette, you
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know, those really soft cyan Blues that come out of legacy.
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Alan Villanueva was our concept artist on this and just really
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took those directives of bring it forward and push it a little
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further, but make it like a historical ode to even the
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helmets, you know, the cutaways and the shape of everything.
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So and it was important to us to make that so distinctly visually
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different from the Dillinger Grid and to bring that forward
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from our past, which I think again, I think spot on, right.
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And then the Dillinger Grid, our line language in Legacy was very
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much based in the hexagonal shape.
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You know, 6 sided DNA was sort of the the root of everything.
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And when you get into Aries, it's a triangle.
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So the line language that you'll see in the light form shapes of
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that grid and the shape of, you know, the disk.
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Of course Aries has a triangle disk, the shapes and the facets
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to the lines and the the armor and everything all born from a
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very geometric point of view. And it's much more aggressive
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and it's, you know, it's impactful in its intensity,
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which I think was a really important jumping off place to
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see Aries go through his journey of discovering those human
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empathetic kind of tones to a program that's evolving.
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So I feel like that, you know, that intention was just
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perfectly executed through the production design, the color
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value, and we've created these two extremely different worlds
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in the grid. And then, of course, you go back
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into our retro grid of, you know, Kevin Flynn's place of
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existence, which, you know, Aries going into that really
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told such a distinct story of the history of the franchise
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moving forward. And of course, that's a
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completely kind of CG wondrous environment.
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And then Jeff Bridges costume in there.
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I actually collaborated with Alex on that.
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That was one of our big crossover costumes.
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So that Kevin Flynn costume has so much reverence for his lines
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in Legacy, like as far as the robes and the drape and
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everything really applied at the first time we saw him come back
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to us. But taking all of like Sid Meads
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amazing, super cool light lines from 1982 and bringing those
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onto the back of the costume. So that grid is kind of like a
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hybrid of all three grids, like meeting together in this one
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wonderful place. So that's a super cool moment in
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the movie. For all of us.
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And it's it's just such like great sci-fi history too, coming
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together in that moment too, just looking at how things have
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evolved since the 80s and looking back at the, you know,
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80s hockey suits that work kind of cobbled together.
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So at this moment where we see Jeff Bridges, it really, I mean,
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I don't know, I could bring a tear to an eye of a sci-fi.
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Nerd. And the only actor that's in all
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three films is our our wonderful friend Jeff.
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Yeah, and I, I have to add on to what he said too.
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There's something so antagonistic about a triangle
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compared to the very round shapes.
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Of like we see. In the income grad grid.
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And I think that line language is carried throughout and it
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really does give this super intense place of origin that
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takes us on the journey of coming back into the real world.
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Well, one thing that I don't think a lot of people are really
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grasping onto just said they need to understand the
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practicality of Tron Aries because it's it's just like some
15:08
other films out there. People tend to think, oh it's
15:10
all computer generated, But I mean this is.
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Very, very. Very real.
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So I applaud you and your team. So let's talk about the
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practicality of it. Executive producer Russell Allen
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said in some production notes saying that your team is faces
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to of creating suits that appeared as though they were
15:26
computer generated, but which also made sense and looked right
15:29
in the real world at the same time.
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And it also had to be something that kept the actors and stunt
15:34
actors comfortable enough for a 10 hour shooting days and safe
15:38
and rain and moisture a lot, a lot for you all to think about.
15:41
So it's how you see stop you guys.
15:44
This must have took a couple weeks, right?
15:46
So just a minute, how did you and your team tackle the
15:51
intersection of practicality, safety in this this hyper
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digital Tron aesthetic like you mentioned?
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I mean, there's battery packs and lightings.
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And like you said, we don't want the actors to get electrocuted
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and has to look right in the real world, but also blend in
16:06
with the grid at the same time. And I know you also worked with
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Weta Workshop and Iron Head Studios as well too.
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So tell me a little bit about that collaboration and bringing
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these suits to life. Yes.
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OK, well, let's start at the beginning, which is of course,
16:20
concept art. I had just a stellar team, Mario
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Sicilo, Alan Munaueva, Luca Nemalada, They have worked with
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me on many projects over the years.
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And in that conceptual phase, we started from points of
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practicality even in in the illustrations.
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So they were so astute and informed of the methods of
16:45
building these things. We all work together in a room
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and you know, constantly talking about how an arm moves, how do
16:53
you armadillo the plate so that everything works, Making sure we
16:57
had places to put the battery pack.
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So even in our design process, we were so cognizant of the
17:03
functionality of the suits as we were building them.
17:07
So they just did a stellar job of, you know, always
17:10
incorporating stunts, movement, flexibility.
17:13
You know, we say comfort, but ha, ha, ha, no, you know,
17:18
comfortable in the sense that it's achievable and wearable.
17:21
But these suits are hard. This is tough stuff.
17:23
You know, you'll hear Jody talking in her interviews of how
17:27
she thought she was training for stunts, but she was training to
17:29
wear the suit. She is not wrong.
17:34
So, you know, it really started from that point of view of
17:37
again, yes, taking these shapes, taking that graphic line
17:41
language, knowing we're going to be bringing these things into
17:44
the real world. So a lot of our research was
17:47
like armor based and, you know, functional samurais and all, you
17:52
know, how did these pieces all move together?
17:55
And wet A workshop and as well as my friends at Iron Head, Jose
18:00
Fernandez, you know, wet a really worked very integrally
18:05
from the beginning with us on what kind of technology we're
18:08
going to be using for the lighting and how we would
18:11
navigate those wiring harnesses and create the safety in the
18:14
suits. And so our designs were built,
18:17
you know, in tandem with function the whole time.
18:22
So you know, Wetta, Lance Hanson at Wetta was like a right hand
18:26
guy of just making sure that any rules we had to follow for the
18:31
technical, we really walked hand in hand with that through the
18:35
design process. So you know, for instance,
18:38
trying to send the light line through a rotator joint like an
18:42
arm or a hip is really not a practical situation for any
18:47
suit. So we had all those
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conversations, I mean all day, every day, just talking,
18:52
talking, talking through everything.
18:55
And then we just did a lot of stunt worthy testing of stuff,
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you know, really trying out the helmets, trying out the
19:02
compression everything and getting all those feedbacks to
19:04
make it achievable in camera. The great thing is I have to say
19:09
again and again, just the evolution of the technologies we
19:13
used that just gave us so much more of a range of motion
19:18
flexibility. You know, the helmets, the iron
19:21
head, you know, hands down the the fans that are in there, the
19:25
way the actors can move and breathe in them, their
19:28
visibility. So much was considered about
19:31
function and practicality in the design.
19:32
And I think it really showed in the production value.
19:36
And I will tell you assuredly that it showed in the VFX budget
19:41
because we, you know, we, we had to clean up a lot of things and
19:46
legacy. And, you know, it's the same
19:48
producers and same friends who were there knowing that we had
19:52
to put a little budget line in there just in case, you know,
19:55
stuff needed to be done And so much as in camera that millions
20:02
of dollars were able to be recovered from that line and,
20:05
and brought to other sources of production.
20:07
So. I'm happy to say mission of
20:10
college. And that's why you're the one of
20:13
the right people for the job, too, because you have that
20:16
experience. Yeah, well, that also brings up
20:20
an interesting point, talking about, you know, your
20:22
collaboration with Weta and Iron Head.
20:24
But also I have to imagine that your collaboration with other
20:27
departments on Tron areas was so integral.
20:30
I mean, especially production design, cinematography.
20:33
Could you speak to that as well? Yes, I mean Darren Gilford is
20:37
just my guardian Angel, our production designer, Darren who
20:41
also was our production designer on Tron Legacy.
20:43
So we have a, you know, working relationship of many years and
20:48
what an amazing spirit guide. You know, the production design
20:53
team starts significantly before costumes because of the
20:56
magnitude of what's needed there.
20:59
And so to come in and really lean on Darren for the line
21:03
language in the frame and the tonality of colors and textures
21:08
that we're using and such a wonderful collaboration and huge
21:12
support to make that marriage symbiotic.
21:15
And I, I don't know if anyone else could have created the
21:19
magic that Darren has in this film.
21:22
And then of course, you know, our prop master, we Dean
21:26
Eilerstein and I, there's so much crossover of, you know, the
21:29
disc has to be on the costume, but then it's in, it's a prop
21:33
and the batons that turn into this.
21:35
And how do you mount things and all that stuff, you know, and
21:38
having to get all the colors and the textures and everything to
21:41
match perfectly. And the paint finishes.
21:43
And you know, wet is in New Zealand, but we're building some
21:46
things in Vancouver. And you know, the those friends
21:50
are just you. You can't put a price tag on how
21:54
invaluable those collaborations were.
21:56
And those gentlemen were just the the best.
21:59
The best? Well, I'm sure this is one of
22:01
those projects that probably made you brain throb at night,
22:03
but it looks incredibly. Still does.
22:05
I haven't recovered. Well, it it works so harmlessly
22:10
when you see it on screen, though, which I think really
22:12
shows how successful these collaborations were as well.
22:15
Christine, so much applause to you on your time.
22:20
Yeah, well, let's talk about I. Just love all these visuals that
22:23
are coming up. It's such a happy meeting.
22:25
So if anyone is looking at my eye line is off, it's just
22:28
because I'm looking down at some imagery.
22:30
Oh, same. And you're like way over here on
22:31
my screen, so. My eye lines are for cocked
22:35
everybody but it's OK. The the pictures will be there
22:38
for everyone too, so you'll they'll be happy.
22:40
Great, they'll know what I'm looking at.
22:43
Well, let's talk about Aries himself, played by Jared Leto,
22:48
of course. He said in the production notes
22:51
that he loved a suit and wearing it actually transported him into
22:55
the grid. And a moment he looked down and
22:56
saw it illuminated, it really just brought him into character.
23:00
He felt like Aries. And that is so integral to any
23:04
actor, actress in on a project like this, as you know, through
23:08
your time on Star Trek and going, you know, and all these
23:11
accrual projects you've done over the years.
23:13
So tell me a little bit about the journey behind creating this
23:17
look for Aries and of course working with Jared Letto, who I
23:20
know was very involved in this project as well.
23:23
You know, it's a funny thing we do.
23:24
We talk a lot about visuals a lot in costume design, and of
23:28
course it's imperative. And the process of creating
23:31
something from the ground up on paper to a living thing is a
23:34
long journey. There's a lot of Rd. in there.
23:37
But the one thing that I think sometimes people forget, and
23:40
this is probably something that's important for students of
23:43
design and people who are coming up, is the feeling.
23:47
You know, we can't forget that an actor is delivering a
23:51
performance and there's a feeling that comes from wearing
23:56
a costume. From the boot choice you make to
24:00
the way that an armor, the weight of something, how a
24:04
helmet feels and how it makes you feel as an actor when you're
24:08
wearing it is such an important part of the collaboration
24:10
between the costume designer and the actor.
24:13
And, you know, Jared, of course, has been part of this for at
24:17
Burr. I mean, he's, you know, one of
24:19
the integral reasons why we made the film or got to make the
24:22
film. And, you know, we're the same
24:25
age. And so we both had a lovely chat
24:28
about our child versions of ourselves going to the arcade
24:32
and playing the game. For me, it was a bowling alley.
24:35
I think he was in a laundromat. I don't know.
24:38
But that you know, that child like awe and wonder of our first
24:43
glimpses at Tron and seeing the film and trying to make sure as
24:49
we were going down the road, of course it has to look unique and
24:53
tremendous and impactful and all that stuff.
24:55
But the wonder and the joy of the child in US of discovering
25:02
this suit through the process was something we tried to hang
25:06
on to. And I remember we had a really
25:09
preliminary fitting at Jared's home.
25:13
And so like when you do your first fittings, of course we're
25:15
not printing hard parts. Like everything's not in your
25:18
things. It's a, you know, you're looking
25:20
at shapes and placement and, you know, the light lines are
25:23
literally red tape, you know, but still, we've just blocked
25:31
that in for you. I cut it out of some tape, but
25:33
it's going to be great. But even that very first time
25:38
putting on the shapes in like a black leotard and with all this
25:43
artwork up on the wall. And I looked at him and he just
25:46
looked like that kid who had found that spark of joy.
25:53
And I was like, Jared, you're wearing a Tron suit and I, he
25:59
was for clamped and I got for clamped and then we ate cookies
26:02
together. But no, it was, you know, the
26:06
process of the feeling and finding the feeling of it and
26:11
the weight and the heft and the intention and the impact and all
26:14
that with him. I think it was for me, just
26:18
seeing that happen and come to life and have him feel like this
26:23
is it, it's working. We did.
26:25
It is, you know, definitely the huge success of this journey.
26:30
I mean, it is such a cool suit. I just the moment you've saw on
26:34
screen for the first time, it just like a child like state.
26:38
You're like this is so cool with the 9 inch nails soundtrack in
26:42
the background. Too, it's.
26:43
Just it's a feeling this this movie should be an IMAX
26:47
permanently. There should be a place where
26:48
you could just go see it whenever you want to, but.
26:50
I actually just went to a screening last night because we
26:53
did there was like a DVD like streaming platform release
26:56
screening and that I mean, I want to make an admission.
27:01
It was my first time seeing it in IMAX.
27:03
I've seen it on regular screens but.
27:06
An experience, right? I was like feeling the music in
27:09
my body and like watching these suits and it was insane.
27:13
So anyone, if you have not seen the film and you intend to.
27:17
That's the way to do it. It's the way to go.
27:19
For sure. Another character I'd love to
27:22
talk about is of course, Athena, played by Jodie Turner Smith.
27:26
This is a character who is following orders down to AT and
27:30
ends up having a character arc that might be surprising if you
27:34
weren't paying attention at first.
27:39
As you mentioned earlier, Jody talked about wearing the suit
27:41
and it sounds very much like it helped her find a character, one
27:45
could say. I also love seeing that some of
27:47
this concept art of the helmet on Athena's character as well,
27:51
so I was wondering if you could speak to Athena's character as
27:53
well. Yeah, I mean, listen, you're,
27:56
you're we're building warriors and there's still the feminine
28:02
and masculine version of that in the world that we're approaching
28:05
as it has to have context with the the world that we live in.
28:09
So, you know, it wasn't a singular androgynous suit for
28:13
these militarized programs. So we did get to explore the how
28:20
these lines and the graphic nature of them and the intensity
28:23
and the aggression of the shapes would parlay into the female
28:26
form. And our concept artist Demario
28:31
worked with me on this. And the whole time where you
28:36
want to make it feminine, but we have to believe that she is, you
28:40
know, the Amazon woman that she is.
28:41
And of course, you know, Grace Jones comes into play and you're
28:45
looking at all these kind of shapes and women.
28:47
And it was just really important to us to, of course, make her
28:53
look beautiful. And I think the shapes are all
28:55
there and the light lines are gorgeous and she looks stunning.
28:57
But she also looks like someone who you would not want to have
29:01
mad at you and Allie, you know, she looks like she can take you
29:06
on anybody. So I, I think it's just a, but
29:11
it's a beautiful balance of masculine and feminine.
29:15
And I think Jodie just looks absolutely killer in the suit.
29:19
It's, I mean, it's a magical thing to me.
29:21
And I know I tortured her and I hope she forgives me someday.
29:26
But I think it's hard for people to understand is to get all of
29:30
this, to sit on the body the way that it does and keep it locked
29:33
in. There's a base layer to all of
29:36
this to create tension and your body has to constantly push
29:41
itself up against that tension. So you're engaging your core
29:45
strength, you're pushing your lower back to fight against that
29:49
tension all the time. It's and it's exhausting.
29:51
And I mean, she did it with grace.
29:54
And she looked like a badass. So good.
29:57
As you said, and she's not a character that will give up
30:01
either. So you're right, you don't want
30:02
her mad at you. So as we kind of wrap up here, I
30:06
would love to take a moment to just have you talk about your
30:09
team. There was a, it sounds like an
30:11
incredible large team of concept artists, technicians, makers,
30:15
fabricators that brought all these suits to life.
30:18
So just Christine, tell me about your team and all the people
30:21
that helped make this happen. I mean, talk about our own
30:24
behind the scenes army of people.
30:28
You know, it's funny, I always call myself like I'm the lead
30:31
singer of the band, but it's a 8000 piece band.
30:35
You know, we as costume designers are talking about our
30:39
work and we we talk about this design process and and we're
30:43
usually the face of things, but they're I'm just one person and
30:51
though I have a lot of skills, I don't have them all.
30:54
And we, the concept artists are my right hand peoples from the
30:59
beginning of taking what's in my mind and making it a reality on
31:03
paper to convey the thought and intention.
31:06
And then as you continue to move through the process, you know,
31:09
our assistant designer, your assistant costume designer,
31:12
Allison Agler, I mean, bleeding through the eyes to get the
31:17
stuff done. You know, coordinating research,
31:21
references, imagery, fittings, all the information
31:24
disseminating our amazing costume supervisors, Michelle
31:28
Margolis and our Vancouver costume designer Jennifer
31:32
Grossman. You cannot have a plan to
31:37
succeed without a logistics team that knows how to move all the
31:41
pieces around. And those women are just
31:43
absolutely brilliant at maximizing resources and finding
31:47
you the most incredible artist to bring your visions to life.
31:50
We had a workroom in Vancouver with some extremely talented
31:55
cutters and fitters and specialty customers.
31:58
You know our agers and dyers and you know, screen printers,
32:03
fabric makers IRL who does FX there?
32:07
Iron Head Studios here in Los Angeles.
32:09
What a workshop is a planet. There are hundreds of people
32:13
that work there. So to get the opportunity to
32:18
have that many incredibly talented people working side by
32:22
side with you on one common goal to create this level of
32:26
excellence, it's never lost on me how incredible they all are.
32:32
And I love working in science fiction simply for the fact that
32:37
I get to have that kind of a department.
32:40
You know, when you're world building and you're creating
32:43
actual costumes to basically set up your own village of talent to
32:50
address all the needs from concept to execution to onset.
32:55
I mean, you know, Federico Cervantes, Sofia Coronado are FX
32:59
customers who worked on Tron Legacy and came back to this
33:04
crazy town to revisit it again. You know, I Can't Sing their
33:09
praises enough. I wish we had another hour for
33:11
me to talk to you about each one of them and the grit and
33:14
intensity and commitment that they all brought.
33:16
And I would like to also point out too, I mean, obviously these
33:19
are in terms of story, these are computer generated characters,
33:23
but these costumes are not computer generated.
33:25
These are people that have the work with their hands.
33:27
And I just think that is so integral to the process.
33:30
So I think a lot of applause needs to be sent toward you and
33:35
your team too, for just the practicality of it all.
33:38
I don't think people understand that no part of this is really
33:41
computer. Generated, it's all real.
33:43
So we didn't use a lick of AI on these classrooms brands.
33:47
I know it would have made sense for us to do so, but we didn't.
33:50
No, it is. I love that.
33:53
Me too. Me.
33:54
I mean, it's the most thrilling part of what we do is to get to
33:57
actually craft and create and innovate.
34:01
And I'm really lucky to get to do it in in the genre that seems
34:04
to call me. Yeah.
34:06
And with that, as we wrap up here, I just want to ask,
34:09
looking back at your journey of designing Tron Aries, what are
34:13
you most proud of in terms of what you and your team achieved
34:16
on this film? There's so many things that I'm
34:18
proud of. I, I mean, I'm so proud of the
34:21
tenacity and the innovation. I think I'm the most proud of
34:28
our allegiance and reverence to the brainchild of what this all
34:35
is Steven Lissberger. I love that and adore that man
34:39
has been creating and innovating such.
34:44
It's such a wonderful and strange world inside the grid.
34:47
You know, what is inside the grid, what are we, what's inside
34:51
the computer? And to take binary code and data
34:56
and create a storyline of human exploration through the decades
35:02
and decades that we've gone through, I feel, I feel really
35:08
proud of putting some bookends into that and and the reverence
35:13
that it deserves. Costume designer Christine
35:15
Beazen Clark, This has been such a joy.
35:18
I'm such a big fan of your work and this was amazing.
35:21
I could feel like I could talk to you for a couple more hours.
35:23
So we could. We could if.
35:25
You could just whip up a couple more of these Tron movies.
35:27
I would very much be indebted. To die.
35:29
We'll be back. I thank you so much for the
35:32
opportunity, Spencer. It's been a pleasure.
35:34
Thank you. The Costume House with Spencer
35:37
Williams is a production of The Art of Costume.
35:40
This episode was hosted, produced and edited by Spencer
35:43
Williams. To discover more conversations
35:45
with the designer shaping film, television and theater, visit
35:49
theartofcostume.com or follow us on social media at The Art of
35:52
Costume. And don't forget to connect with
35:54
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35:57
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